Supply chain fundamentals

There seems to be a universal agreement on what a supply chain is, see (Teigen 1997). (Swaminathan et al,1996) define a supply chain to be:
a network of autonomous or semi-autonomous business entities collectively responsible for procurement, manufacturing, and distribution activities associated with one or more families ofrelated products.

(Lee et al., 1995) have a similar definition:
A supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them intointermediate goods and then final products, and deliver the products to customers through a distribution system.

(Ganeshan et al., 1995) have yet another analogous definition:
A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to customers.

Objectives of supply chain management

The objective of supply chain management is to be able to have the right products in the right quantities (at the right place) at the right moment at minimal cost. More precisely, the objective can be translated into more precise areas of concern, which are: flexibility, delivery reliability, delivery time/lead time and inventory level.
Delivery reliability and delivery times are both aspects of customer service, which is highly dependent on flexibility and on inventory (Teigen, 1997).